Backdraft

Backdraft is an American movie released in 1991, directed by Ron Howard and written by Gregory Widen. Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert De Niro and Scott Glenn star. Donald Sutherland, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Jason Gedrick and J.T. Walsh are also featured. The story is about firefighters in Chicago on the trail of a serial arsonist.

While there are not many movies devoted to firefighters, Backdraft has been criticised for some unrealistic elements, especially for depicting fire as sentient and for the firefighting tactics and improper use of safety equipment and procedures. Especially insulting was Robert De Niro's line about how sometimes a fire can only be put out by "loving it a little."

The film received three Academy Award nominations. It also received two nominations at the first annual MTV Movie Awards.

There is an exhibit at Universal Studios where you can learn about the making of the movie and experience a real one.

Trivia

• A backdraft is a situation which can occur when a fire is starved of oxygen; consequently combustion ceases but the fuel gases and smoke remain at high temperature. If oxygen is re-introduced to the fire, eg. by opening a door to a closed room, combustion can restart often resulting in a near-explosive effect as the gases heat and expand. This effect is the basis for the synonym smoke explosion. Characteristic signs include yellow or brown smoke, smoke which exits small holes in puffs (often found around the edges of doors and windows), and windows which appear brown or black when viewed from the exterior. These darker colors are caused by incomplete combustion.
  
  This is a very dangerous situation, often surprising even professional firefighters. The most common tactic used by firefighters in defusing a potential backdraft is to ventilate from the highest point, allowing the heat and smoke to escape without igniting explosively.
  

• Many of the extras in the film are actual Chicago firefighters. A casting call was put out in a Department memo prior to the start of shooting. In addition, many suburban firemen participated in the funeral procession.
  
  
• Robert De Niro's character, Don Rimgale, is a real arson investigator with the Chicago Fire Dept's Office of Fire Investigation.
  
  
• The two arson victim names are Cosgrove and Seagrave. Cosgrove is after the real life Chicago Fireman/Author William Cosgrove who served as Robert De Niro's technical advisor for the movie. Seagrave is the name of a fire apparatus (fire and ladder truck) manufacturer. The firehouse where Engine 17 and Truck 46 were quartered is the real, in-service firehouse of the Chicago Fire dept's Engine 65 and Truck 52.
  
  

• The numbers of the fire companies are all "dead" numbers in the Chicago Fire Dept. Engine 17, Truck 46, Engine 24, Truck 6 (now back in service as of March of 2004), & Engine 33, (referred to, not actually seen in the movie), are all out of service. The Chicago Fire Dept. has 24 battalions, battalion 25 was created for the movie.
  
  
• The production company totally refurbished 6 pieces of fire apparatus, and upon completion of filming, donated 5 of them to the Chicago Fire Dept., who used 4 of them as front line equipment for several years, and one as a spare. The only one that was not donated to the city was the truck that was flipped over, which was totaled for that shot.
  
  
• Kurt Russell, Scott Glenn, and William Baldwin did a lot of their own stunts, and are properly credited as such.
  
  
• Much of the soundtrack was later used for the Japanese cooking show, "Ryori no tetsujin" (1993), AKA "Iron Chef".
  
  
• Following tradition, Ron Howard cast his brother Clint Howard in this movie. Clint plays Ricco the pathologist.
  
  
• At the party on the boat, Jennifer Jason Leigh seems to refer to one of the guests as Larry DeWaay. He was a producer of the movie.
  
  
• The photos of firefighters seen on the walls of the investigators office are of the Los Angeles Country fire fighters who were on scene during the filming of the fire scenes as a precautionary measure.
  
  
• After reading the script for Backdraft (1991), Jennifer Jason Leigh reportedly told director Ron Howard that she wished she was the fire because it has the best part.
  
  
• To draw audiences into the intensity of real fire, a cameraman was outfitted in fire-proof suit and wandered through the flames with a hand-held camera.